Heaven!

Heaven can be found in the most unlikely corners.  

~ Mitch Albom

In the week after I gave Mariana her sewing machine, she made three tote bags - one of which she proudly carried to my house last Saturday.  :)

It was her own "pattern."  She aligned two rectangles, right sides together, and stitched three sides.  She turned it right side out and added a fabric strap.  

Okay, it was a bit raggedy and wouldn't hold much weight without ripping - but she did it herself!  She had the idea.  She reasoned out a pattern.  She applied the right-sides-together process that we used on the pillows.  It was awesome!  :)

It made me so happy to see that she was excited and motivated to sew!

So, I promptly forgot about my plans to weave and spent Saturday morning showing her how to sew a lined bag.

We took pictures of each step on her cell phone, so that she could refer to them and recreate the process by herself at home.  (Gotta love technology!)

I showed her the process that I worked out to make small, lined bags to hold my "How Much Fabric?" reference cards - with these differences:

1. We used much larger pieces of fabric.
2. We added handles, instead of the elastic loop and button closure.
3. We used a heavy duty, canvas-like fabric for the lining.  

Here are pictures illustrating the process:  

Her patience, attention to detail and understanding are amazing - especially for a 10 year old!  

She loves her new bag!  

And then I took her to Joann's and let her pick out more bag fabric.  ;)

I can't wait to see what she does with it!  :)

I think it's official.  I have a sewing friend!  :)

"Success"

Success is going from failure to failure

without losing your enthusiasm.

~ Winston Churchill

I finally found a definition of success that I can live with!  ;)

The weaving is still a bit "wobbly" in places, but I think it will be good enough to sit on!  ;)

If We Had a Curse Jar...

Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower

than curse the darkness.  

~ Terry Pratchett

...we could retire on its contents about now!  ;)

It took me a couple of weeks, but I finally got my next warp ready to weave!  Here is the warp set up to do alternating rows of orange and blue (and no, I am not a Gators Fan).  

But I actually wanted something a bit different - so I had to rearrange the cross again:  

Now you can see I am going to get short bits of alternating orange and blue:  

Before I could test it, I had to put in my string heddles:  

Finally, a few "fat shots" to straighten things out and settle things down.  

I know it's still looking a bit messy, but the last one looked messy at this stage too, and in the end it came out okay.  So I have hopes for this one.  ;)

Plus, NO WAY I am going to pull this out and try for a fourth time!  ;)

The "real" weft will be a thin yarn and so it won't be such a checker-board effect.  

Next weekend will be a long one, so hopefully I can make some real progress on this!  And maybe even get into my sewing room!  Wouldn't that be a nice change of pace?  ;)

A Late Christmas Present

How did it get to be so late so soon?  

~ Dr. Seuss

Well, my 10-year-old friend's Christmas present finally arrived in the mail and I was able to give it to her on Saturday:  

Yup, I got her her own sewing machine!  She has done a couple of projects with me, on my machine, and she seems to like it.  She's also pretty good at remembering things like: needle down before you turn a corner, needle up before you remove the fabric and sew in reverse a little bit at the beginning and end of each seam.  ;)

I showed her how to fill a bobbin and thread her machine.  And we did some simple sewing, just to make sure that everything was working.  We sat in the living room and she pushed the foot pedal with her hand...  ;)

I also let her raid my remnant stash for pieces big enough to practice on and to make throw pillows.  Happily for me, she ended up taking about half of the stash - which consists of pieces that are big enough that I can't throw them away without feeling guilty, but small enough that I am unlikely to ever use them myself.  So, it was a win-win!  ;)

We had time to stitch up two pillow shells and fill and finish one of them.  :)

Another little thing that makes me feel like this is going to work for her - I explained that she needed to tear the fiber fill into little pieces to stuff the pillow - not just cram in big chunks - and she really did a good job!  She was very patient and spent a lot of time stuffing her pillow.  I think that's pretty impressive for a 10-year-old, don't you?  

Speaking of which, I sent her home with enough fiber fill to make pillows for just about everyone in her life!  ;)

Of course, her mom is now all excited, thinking that Mariana can start sewing her own tailored school pants, because they are expensive to buy.  Yikes!  Apparently some expectation management is called for on my part...  

It probably sounds like a great present for her.  But if she really gets into sewing and I end up with a sewing friend, it will be a present for me!  :)  

In Loving Memory...

Grandmas hold our tiny hands for just a little while, 

but our hearts forever.  

~ Anonymous

I miss you, Grandmommy...

A Flipped Life

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.  

~ Helen Keller

Everyone knows the stages of life - you grow up, get a job, get married, raise your family, your children grow up and move out on their own, and you and your spouse spend the rest of your lives focusing on each other and spoiling your grandchildren.  

Well, it looks like we are about to flip our lives upside-down.  In more ways than one!  

My husband and I have been married for 32 years.  We didn't have children and we've spent those 32 years focusing on each other and our careers and hobbies.  And we have been very happy.  

And now, in our early-to-mid-fifties, we are beginning the process to qualify as adoptive parents with the state of Florida.  If we successfully complete this process, a year from now (or so) a teenager may be calling us "Mom and Dad."  

Daring adventure - here we come!  

To be continued...  

P.S. - is "daring" another word for crazy?  

It's a Flipped Thing

Life is like Tetris; 

if it doesn't fit, just flip it over.

~ Sabine Hein

"Flipping" seems to be all the rage these days...

People are flipping houses:

Teachers are flipping their classrooms:

In 2015, my husband and I are thinking of flipping our lives...  

Stay tuned!